 |
 |
Weight of a Spring
Name: N/A
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
Why does a spring weigh more when it is compressed?
Erica Plattner, Brian Peterson, Jenni Noe, Chanel Zacha,
Bradley Fyke, Ben Moretz Eureka High School, 9th grade
Replies:
Well, it does not weight much more! Sounds like a trick
question to me! The reason is because compressing a
spring stores energy in it, and from Einstein's famous:
E = m c^2
we know that an increase in energy is associated with
an increase in mass. And weight is always proportional
to mass for a fixed gravitational attraction, so
there is your answer. The change in mass is equal to
the change in energy divided by the speed of light
squared, and is thus very small (try calculating it
assuming the energy is 1 Joule!)
Arthur Smith
Click here to return to the Physics Archives
| |
Update: June 2012
|
|
